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The Gold Rush
The Gold Rush is the first short story in the anthology Biggles Flies Again. The story was originally published in the July 1933 edition of Popular Flying. It was then gathered in Biggles Flies Again in 1934. From 1935, it was also reprinted in other periodicals. In Flies Again, this story is followed by The Maid and the Mountains. Synopsis After being demobilised from the R.A.F., Biggles, Algy and Smyth have taken a job doing aerial photographyfor an oil prospecting company. However they have not been paid and supplies from the company have dried up, leaving them almost stranded in the South American wilderness. They fly down to the company headquarters to find that the company has gone into liquidation. Out of work and penniless, a stranger approaches them with an offer of going halves on a buried treasure. Plot See Cyrus P. Hollinger for a summary of the plot. Characters *Biggles *Algy Lacey *Smyth *Cyrus P. Hollinger *Isobel Hollinger Aircraft *Vickers Vandal Ships *''Sea Dream'' Places Visited *Georgetown, British Guyana *Port of Spain *Maracaibo *Panama *Buenaventura *Lima Mentioned Editorial Changes There are significant editorial changes between the 1934 first edition and the later editions by Dean and Son. Most have to do with modernizing the context for a new generation of readers. *Biggles' rank as Major is removed. He was promoted to Major at the end of the First World War but the editors must have removed it to prevent later readers from being confused as the Major rank was no longer used in the R.A.F. Also the 1st ed. states Biggles is late of the R.F.C. and R.A.F. This is simply late R.A.F. in the Dean and Son eds. *Some stylistic changes where sections or lines have been removed: **"Following some months of unemployment after demobilization, during which time his gratuity had shrunk with alarming rapidity...." (removed in Dean and Son editions) **"After the vicissitudes of civil life they had jumped at the opportunity thus presented...." (removed in Dean and Son editions) **Possibly, the Dean and Sons editors thought these lines serve to fix the events too close to the end of the First World War and made the story rather dated. *Sections which made the Vickers Vandal sound old to modern readers: **An entire section where Smyth helps to start the engine by swinging the prop by hand to prime the cylinders has been removed. **"He switched off, pushed up his goggles, and swung his legs over the side of the cockpit...." (this line suggests the Vandal had an open cockpit. Removed in the Dean and Sons editions) Other Research Notes *A 1938 edition of Biggles Flies Again from the Boy's Friend Library had different story titles and followed those used in the Modern Boy magazine, in this case, Biggles' Treasure Hunt. References to the past Incongruities *Some time travel is needed unless we accept that Biggles and Algy did not get demobbed from the R.A.F. until the late 1920s. See the section on chronology below. Chronology *Biggles had a few months of civil life after demobilization. Then took up this aerial survey job for six months before the events in the story. It is not clear when he was demobilized. *The mention of Pan American services to Port-of-Spain, Maracaibo and Panama fixes the date quite firmly. The service to these cities started in 1929, to Georgetown in September that year. So the events in the book can take place no earlier that 1929.Historical map showing dates of inception of Pan Am routes in South America This suggests Biggles remained in R.A.F. service for quite a while after the 1st World War! Publication History *''Popular Flying'', July 1933 *''Biggles Flies Again'', August 1934 and subsequent editions *''Modern Boy'', No. 377, 1935 entitled Biggles' Treasure Hunt *''Ace High'' edited by Flight Lieutenant (W E Johns), 1936 References Category:Short stories Category:Biggles short stories Category:Interwar era short stories